From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-13 Date: 03-25-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. First Word It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... No, that's not it. Call me Ishmael. No. In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not it either. In writing this, I've tried to come up with a turn of a phrase. One of those lines that sticks with you. Nine out of ten of you (at least) can tell me what books those three first lines come from (if you can't, then quit playing a game and go read some books, you illiterate boob), they are part of our heritage and in most cases evoke powerful memories. So, who cares? We spend many hours playing this game, and yet, when I describe it to someone else I am at a loss to come up with the reason why I allow this game to take up so much of my time. There are those of us who can compare it to wargames, to fantasy role-playing games, even to that venerable classic, Diplomacy. Yet, in describing the game to outsiders (your mother, your spouse, significant other, etc.), unless they have a similar base of experience explaining it to others is a difficult task. How do you explain blue to a blind person? Well, fortunately this reaches only a small group. So I don't have to come up with an evocative phrase. You all know what blue looks like. Hope you enjoy. Encounters The following is the first and only direct encounter with Tom Bombadil that I've heard of. Note that this was an army encounter, not a character encounter, and no options were given. During the past few hours, a stranger appeared in our camp. Snatches of song had been heard from within the forest, sometimes very close to our paths our troops have taken. On a few occasions, some of the troops had seen glimpses of this man who can best be described as being bigger than a Hobbit but smaller than a Man. He claimed that his name was Tom Bombadil and he seemed to be a very merry fellow. We invited him to sup with us, and he regaled us with stories well into the night. In the morning he was gone, but our food supplies seemed to have been replenished. [net effect: +3000 food to the army, about three turns worth for that army, and below] [On the character turn result for the same turn for Finlous was the following message] She had a special encounter. See Encounter Messages. Scouting was performed by Radagast the Brown. A scout of the area was attempted. Foreign armies identified: None. See report below. [The area scouted by Radagast was on the east side of the map and contained no armies. He believes it was a random hex, as he had no reason to be interested in the area. He said that Tom Bombadil had no other effect on the character or the army.] Enchanted Pool: STEP into the pool = no effect for neutrals. Vampire: REQUEST information = injured/killed for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Thanks to Jeff Holzhauer for the information on encounters this time around. Dragons Ando-Anca: State NAME = injured/killed for Dark Servants. Gostir: this dragon is alive and well. I got a very reliable report of him plagueing some dwarvish pop centers in the Iron Hills. Nimanaur: State NAME = injured/killed for Dark Servants. Thanks to Darren Beyer for confirming the status of Gostir. Other Corrections and Notes Glosovagil (artifact 162) starts the game with Saruman. This gives him a +30 to his challenge rank. ME-PBM Wish List >From Jeff Holzhauer Why not change the program so that a neutral cannot declare for a side if 50% or more of the active players on that sides "dislike" or "hate" said neutral? If a neutral plans to wait until the war is essentially over, the winning side can keep him from joining them. This also makes sense on a "real world" level, as each alliance has the right to exclude members (NATO doesn't have to let Russia in just because Russia wants to join NATO). I also believe that this would be more easily implemented than some of the other suggestions and would make the least change in the game. Although I generally feel that neutrals should join the losing side (all else being equal), they should be allowed to join either side they want, as long as that side wants them. How I Got Shafted in ME-PBM Strategy & Tactics: Arthedain >From Brian Mason How does the Arthedain compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton): among all among FP Total Tax Base tied for 8th tied for 5th Resource Base 3rd 2nd Combat Strength 11th 6th Character points tied for 20th 7th Artifacts 9th 4th Arthedain is strong in very many areas. A very significant weaknesses is the lack of a back-up capital, especially with the Witch-King so nearby. If the Noldo Elves follow some of the suggestions in last week's Strategy and Tactics discussion, they can supply Arthedain with a back-up capital and also may provide powerful combat artifacts which can be very beneficial once the war starts. And it should start soon. Arthedain and Cardolan should begin pressing the Noldo right away. Some help can be provided by the Dwarves, and the disposition of the Dunlendings and Rhudaur may pose a problem. Even so, an aggressive pairing of Arthedain and Cardolan can adequately hold back the Witch-King, even if the two neutrals join him. With the financial and resource aid of the Noldo attrition will wear the Witch-King and his allies down. Arthedain is peanut butter. Cardolan is jelly. The pairing of these two is THAT important to the both of them. While the strategy presented here is that of Arthedain, many of the ideas can (and were!) be adapted to Cardolan, and the plans presuppose an active cooperative ally. If you are facing the Witch-King and all three neutrals, a scorched earth strategy will come in handy. Keep shoving in more troops and eventually you will be able to overcome the Witch-King. Destroying his population centers, which you cannot possibly hold will help in many ways: lower his loyalty, morale, production, and tax base. While fighting at your own population centers has the added fortification bonus, I'd much rather be attacking the enemy on his own ground, thus leaving your own relatively secure. If you can count on non-intervention from the neutrals it might be possible to blitz the Witch-King and take and hold his population centers. If the Witch-King is gone, either or both neutrals have no hope of fighting Arthedain and Cardolan. Expected production of Arthedain is as follows: le br st fo ti mo go total 1600 250 180 6000 700 400 3700 They have adequate leather and mount production to equip mounted troops. Their deficiency is in the area of bronze and steel production. In placing population centers it is important to recognize the areas on the map which are more secure than others. Specifically, what parts of your map are on maps of the enemy (or the neutrals for that matter). The area west of and including the 13 column do not appear on the map of the Witch-King or the two neutrals. It is in this area, this half dozen or dozen hills and rough hexes that the Arthedain should place his camps. Several of these should significantly improve his resource production in deficient areas. Two of the special abilities of the Arthedain directly relate to their armies, and only serve to increase their ability. The other two special abilities are discussed here. Arthedain starts with a good economy, but it can be made better by the increase of taxes. However, two of the Arthedain villages start with no fortifications. The ability of the Arthedani to build fortifications at one-half cost will allow them to build towers both here and at subsequent camps rather easily. Projected Arthedain timber production should be adequate for this. It is also worth mentioning and considering improving Arthedain fortifications at Fornost Erain from a castle to a keep. The other Arthedain special ability, that of creating 40 point mages is of less value. While they do have the ability to act as field artillery as well as lore masters, Arthedain starts with no mages above apprentice level. To get these forty point mages before turn eleven (projected turn a 10 mage will become a 40 mage with Prentice Magery every turn (based on More Character and Skill Improvement by Tom Walton)) will require creating a 30 mage, waiting four turns, and then having him name 40 mages. Two characters, Alquawen and Morwen, start the game being not terribly valuable. However, have them both InfYour and GrdLoc every turn and in time you will have very good agent/emissaries which can go into enemy population centers and InfOthr and StlGold: an especially nasty action. The immediate character needs of Arthedain are two commander/agents to act as army subcommanders, a good pure emissary and a good pure mage (for above). The emissary can be used to create camps, and later, to improve some of the Arthedain population centers. Some of the Arthedain population centers: Athrad Sarn, Eruimar, and Rood are either camps or villages in open plains. Production of the resources at these locations are adequate and will not drop significantly with improvement. Specific turn by turn recommendations follow: Each turn: Alquawen and Morwen train as described above. Army moves are optimized to allow for maximum recruiting and minimum food usage. Turn 1 : 1407 army splits with most going to Argeleb II. Armies begin to reorganize under Argeleb II. 1409 army moves to 1106. 1211 army moves to 1409. 1109 army moves to 1108. First commander/agent named. Total of 1200 troops added. Turn 2: Relations downgraded with Witch-King. 1106 army splits and moves to 1304. 1409 army moves to 1304. 1108 army moves to 1304. Argeleb's 1407 army moves to 1304. Other 1407 army stays put. Note that 1304 is just off the Witch-King's map. First emissary named. Tower built at Eruimar. Total of 1100 troops added. Turn 3: Relations downgraded with Cloud Lord. Argeleb II takes command of most troops at 1304 and moves to 1704. His army consists of 600 hc, 600 lc, 2700 hi, 1800 li, 300 ar, 900 ma. 1106 army moves to 1006. Various left over recruiting armies (i.e. 100 troops each) from 1304 move to 1106, and 1207. Mage named. Total of 800 troops added. Turn 4: Relations downgraded with Dragon Lord. Argeleb's army moves from 1704 onto 1804 (Carn Dum). 1006 and 1106 armies stay put. One 1207 army moves to 1109, the other to 1409. Second commander/agent named. Camp created at 1609. Tower added at Rood. Total of 1100 troops added. Turn 5: Relations downgraded with Long Rider. Argeleb II destroys Carn Dum (if possible, otherwise he attacks the army present). All armies stay put and recruit. Camps added at 1110 and 1209. Total of 1700 troops added. >From Tom Walton In my experience, Eriador is probably the most volatile region in Middle-Earth and, aside from the Rhovanion (wherein dwells the doomed Dragon Lord), the most desperate for the Dark Servants. Despite the enormous strength of the Witch-King, this player faces at least three opponents at the opening of the game, with the potential to come to blows with five more very early on (Dwarves, Sinda, Woodmen, Rhudaur, Duns). Most players see the conquest of the Witch-King as a matter of time given competent play by his Free Peoples enemies. With that in mind, crafting an early game strategy for Arthedain is essential, not only to pound home the nails on Murazor's coffin, but also to secure Arthedain's future position among the great powers of Middle-Earth. And, unfortunately, much depends on the actions of neighbors. Will Cardolan come to Argeleb's aid early on, or will it sit out the opening moves of the war? And what of the Noldo, known for their unwillingness to do anything other than collect artifacts and wrack up victory points? Which way will the two neutrals go, and when? Will agents from Mordor show up to aid the Witch-King, or will Mordor throw the First of the Nazgul to the dogs? The factors involved can change Arthedaini strategy and goals completely depending on various turns of events, the combination of which is far too large to address in this article. For the purposes of simplicity, I assume that Dunland will remain neutral for the first ten turns, while Rhudaur will declare for the Dark Servants after the initial run of battles. I also assume that Cardolan will arrive, but late (about the same time Rhudaur goes evil), and that the Noldo won't be a factor in the opening game. I base this upon my observation of the game as the 'average' situation in Eriador. Of course, if Rhudaur goes good, or if the Noldo actually get involved, Arthedain is in much better shape and can alter its plans accordingly. Arthedain isn't particularly strong in any area at the beginning of the game; indeed, most of its strength lies in its potential to become a great power in Middle-Earth later on. In order to preserve this potential, Arthedain must act immediately to drive its foes from Eriador with all the weapons at its disposal. It's critical, extremely so, that Arthedain go on the offensive and conquer the Witch-King as soon as possible; a long, drawn-out war, or worse, a counter-offensive into the kingdom itself, can cripple Arthedain permanently even if the Witch-King loses Angmar later on. The damage done will prevent Arthedain from later building up its strength and challenging other Free nations for the top three positions. As per my notes in the previous Mouth, I don't plot turn-by-turn since my actions will vary depending on the placement of characters at game start. Instead, I resorted to a general outline broken down into five turn increments. Turns 1-5: Consolidate forces and recruit heavy infantry as quickly as possible, at least 1100 a turn. The Witch-King will be recruiting at least this fast, so you must act to meet him man-per-man on the field. Position your forces so that they can meet at a single point and march into Angmar as one army, rather than be caught piecemeal by the Witch-King and destroyed. Don't worry about giving your troops arms and armor; the Witch-King won't be able to because of the enormous economic cost, and neither will you. Aside from which, you really don't have the characters to waste in the early game. In terms of new characters, I'd suggest naming two pure emissaries and two commander-agents. The commander-agents can recruit and act as guards for your exposed leaders, which is generally sufficient against the agents of Mordor early on unless they come with lots of artifacts. The emissaries should move for the western territories and begin putting down camps as quickly as possible in the rough hexes. If you can get permission from the Noldo (or you don't care what he thinks one way or another), putting camps in the woods hexes on the coast is also a good move. The first critical juncture comes in this early phase of the game. Most Witch-King players are content to recruit like crazy until they're on the edge of bankruptcy, then march out and engage anyone who crosses their path. Another option involves splitting off the large numbers of cav in Witch-King armies into a single force, sending it north off-map, then back down into western Arthedain. This move, while it weakens Angmar considerably on the main front, can be extremely devastating; if done with skill and surprise, Arthedain can be crippled immediately, and its chances of coming out of the war intact destroyed. To counter a tricky Witch-King, I'd suggest taking your worst commander and placing him in one of the off-map hexes where the Witch-king is most likely to appear. Have him recon each and every turn; if an icon shows up, you know that you're in trouble and can march to block the invasion with your own cav force. Keep the commander there until you account for the whereabouts of the cav (say, by destroying it in battle). Granted, this character won't get any skill gains, but you won't see half your nation destroyed before your eyes, either. Forget about naming mages. Have your characters with mage skill prentice, but don't bother creating any more. They're absolutely worthless to you at this point in the game. Turns 6-10: The Witch-King, having reached the end of his treasury and now on the verge of bankruptcy, will be marching out from Angmar. He'll be eager, even desperate, to run into someone; his deficit will be so high that he'll be driven to lose troops as quickly as he can. My suggestion would be to oblige him. Concentrate all those new forces you recruited and go intercept him before he can get into Arthedain. Because of the rough terrain, there are only two real approaches that heavy infantry can take into Arthedain, which means that the actual path the Witch-King chooses is easily seen before he arrives. It shouldn't be a problem to catch him out on the plains, unless you acted silly and recruited at odd places. The titanic battle that will follow this meeting is another critical juncture. If the Witch-King received significant monetary aid from Mordor, it's possible that he managed to out-recruit you by quite a bit, in which case you'll not only lose, but your enemy will have sufficient troops left to continue the march. If he didn't get a whole lot of aid but is crazy enough to chance bankruptcy on a strong market, he'll still outnumber you by a fair amount. The average player, however, won't recruit this fast, which means that you'll be just about evenly matched. Regardless of who wins, the victor won't have enough troops left to do any damage, and this is quite good enough for Arthedain. If all goes well and mutual destruction results, the threat from Angmar is essentially over. The Witch-King won't have a treasury to back up massive over-recruitment anymore, which means that you'll easily be able to match him man per man. With the arrival of any allied forces the conquest of Angmar only a matter of time. There are any number of problems you may run into in the early game: - incompetent or unresponsive allies. Regardless of what else happens, Arthedain simply can't conquer Angmar by itself unless the Witch-King is a complete idiot. While many Witch-Kings are, indeed, idiots, I wouldn't bank on this. Without allied aid, you're committed to a war of attrition which neither side can really win, and which'll doom your nation to second-rate status for the rest of the game. Even should you managed to eventually overcome your foe, you won't have the resources or time required to build your nation into a power capable of placing in the game. - Rhudaur goes evil early. Most Rhudaur players choose a side after the forces of both allegiances have exhausted each other in conflict. This makes sense from a neutral point of view, as it allows Rhudaur's massive armies to run free over their opponents for several turns. However, a Rhudaur player that goes evil early and joins the Witch-King in the fight against Arthedain will turn the tide immediately; the only hope is that Cardolan also arrives early, or that several Free Peoples come to your aid prior to enemy armies destroying all your towns. There isn't any counter for this if your allies don't help; you can't stand against a combined Angmar/Rhudaur offensive regardless of what you do. - Dunland goes evil early. Dunland usually sits out the war for quite some time; there's also a good chance that it'll drop (seems to drop more often than any other player except the Woodmen). However, if Dunland commits to the Dark Servants within the first ten turns, you might as well count Cardolan out of the action. Again, the only option for Arthedain is to seek military aid from other Free Peoples; I'd work on the Dwarves, or failing that, the Woodmen (if the Dragon Lord has been soundly beaten, like he should be). Both of these players have a stake in seeing Angmar destroyed, and are more likely to respond quickly than others. - The Cloud Lord shows up. If the Cloud Lord arrives with many agents in tow, things can get difficult fast. While your commander-agents are capable of defeating most of Mordor's agents in assassination attempts/kidnaps in the early game, the Cloud Lord (with his bonus and the stealth his characters usually get) can wreak havoc on your forces. A well-timed strike can completely wipe out your armies, creating a gap in your defenses the Witch-King will pour through. Unfortunately, the only way to counter this other than constantly moving your armies is to employ the aid of the Noldo or Sinda (which isn't terribly likely). Again, I'd suggest hitting the Witch-King asap to limit the damage the Cloud Lord can do, then begging allies for help and hoping the Cloud Lord gets tired of the sport and goes elsewhere. - The Mordor Switch. This is a move I've contemplated for a long time, but only recently saw in action in game 97. There, the Blind Sorcerer and Witch-King traded major towns, with the BS relocating most of his characters to Angmar. This allowed them to recruit additional troops in the area without putting a burden on the Witch-King, as well as allowed them to add significant magical power to their armies. In effect, two powerful Dark Servants were marching out of Angmar rather than one. The end result (by turn 20, the last played) was that despite the close coordination of Arthedain, Cardolan, Rhudaur, and a very militant Noldo player, Angmar still hasn't been conquered. Indeed, things were in doubt for a few turns, as the crafty Dark Servants nearly defeated their foes with the help of a dragon and a few agents. Should Arthedain face this situation, again the only real hope is significant aid by allies. If Rhudaur also goes evil, the end could very well be near not only for Arthedain, but for all of the Free in Eriador. Trying to give specifics for Arthedain prior to the conquest of Angmar is very difficult, since so many things depend on the actions of allies and enemies. After the conquest of Angmar, your choices are more limited and don't require coordination with other players. I'd suggest the following: - build up your economy as quickly as possible. Upgrade all of those camps you made earlier into villages. Try to get an emissary to a high enough rank to convert a couple of towns to major towns, to provide back-up capitols in case things get strange again in Eriador. - make sure you have camp/towers blocking all major access points into Arthedain. Thankfully, many of these towers are sitting around and only require the placement of a camp; but a couple of areas could use reinforcement in case the Dark Servants surprise you with an unexpected hit. I don't suggest building better fortifications than towers, as the war in Eriador will most likely be over before you can gather the resources together for significant upgrades. - name a couple of 40-point mages and start training them like crazy. Use them to gather information, track enemy characters, and find the lesser combat weapons to arm your characters with (for better challenge ranks). Don't name too many mages; you only need a couple. - In terms of military, recruit well-equipped heavy cav and send it down the road to hotspots in other areas of Middle-Earth. Many people trade a major town to get closer to the action, but I'd advise against this if you want to win the game. It splits up your characters and puts you within striking distance of Mordor's agents. After the Dark Servants are driven from Eriador, you can look forward to a long and fruitful peace. This peace will not only allow you to send armies to the aid of your allies elsewhere, but build your economy and characters at a much faster pace than those closer to Mordor. Given a early defeat of Angmar and a long war elsewhere, Arthedain can shoot into the first three - and maintain its position - for the rest of the game. Brian's Note: Jeff Holzhauer, that creative troubadour, and author of the first (that I am aware of) Communist Manifesto of Middle-earth (see, "The Mouth," #3) passes along further goings on from game 119. People's Executive Committee Minutes, Midwinter meeting ATTENDEES: Chairman Eribhen (CE) Minister of Defense Ulf Dilan (UD) Minister of Security Raonull (MR) Minister of Magic Elharian (ME) Field Marshall Aonghas (FA) Woodmen Ambassador (WA) Cardolan Ambassador (CA) WA: "In conclusion, we hope the People of Dunland and the Executive Committee read the winds of fortune well, and join us to cleanse the land, and heed the lesson of your misguided neighbor, Rhudaur." CE: Thank you, please give us time to consider your words. [Woodman Ambassador is escorted from the council chamber] UD: They are arrogant beyond belief, nevertheless... CE: Nevertheless, we are decided. We will fight against Sauron and his minions. The enemies of Sauron shall prevail and Dunland will profit by supporting them. ME: Before we vote, let us hear from the Cardolani Ambassador. CE: So be it. Bring her in. [Cardolan Ambassador is brought in] CA: I bring greetings from Lord Hallas and a simple message. CE: Speak. CA: "Rhudaur is bankrupt. The Witch-King and Dragon Lord are all but eliminated... We assume that you shall be declaring for good shortly." CE: [banging the gavel to restore order] Remove the ambassador, but do not let her leave. [Cardolan Ambassador is escorted out] UD: How dare they! Has Lord Hallas lost his mind? ME: Could this be a deliberate attempt to provoke us? FA: If so, it has succeeded. CE: Fellow committee members, I believe this outrageous provocation... Yes, Raonull? Does security have something to add? MR: Yes. One of my Angmar region scouts retrieved this message from a slain Cardolani messenger. It is addressed to the Witch-King Er-Murazor. CE: Please enlighten us. MR: "One down, two to go - hopefully soon... Don't worry, it looks like the hillmen will happily follow in your footsteps once you're gone... in not sooner." [Room erupts in pandemonium] FA: Treachery! UD: The Cardolan dogs extend one hand and plot against us with the other. ME: The followers of Sauron may be losing, but at least they have honor. CE: We obviously cannot support Cardolan and her allies while they plot against us. The question is: "Should we ally ourselves with the Nazgul?" FA: Aye. ME: Certainly. MR: Yes. UD: Aye. CE: I also vote in favor. So be it. We shall ally with the forces of Sauron. Win or lose, we shall do so with honor. This meeting of the People's Executive Committee is hearby adjourned. We will reconvene tomorrow morning to plan tactics. Elharian, please contact Foreign Minister Daonghlas and instruct him to prepare the official announcement. Raonull, have the lying tongues of the Woodmen and Cardolani ambassadors removed, then send them back to their treacherous masters. Unity Honor Strength Strategy & Tactics: The Northmen and other comments By Dave Rossell In my first game of ME-PBM I played the Northmen and, along with Eothraim wound up on the receiving end of a DS blitzkrieg. The Sinda and Dwarves each decided they had better things to do than help us. So did the rest of the Freeps. So, anyone out there have some good starting moves for the Northmen that will help them survive the blitz--without the help of so-called allies? Northmen Turn 1) Combine western armies and get them heading back toward Shrel Kain. Have Dudannis move to Shrel Kain and join Barlin's army. Have Frumgara do the same. Pick one of your mages to do buys and sells and move her to Shrel. Have the other one start learning locate artifact. Barlin downgrades and Eoder (or whoever's in charge of the navy) recruits and moves the navy NE, NE, E, SE, NW, NE, E to drop troops at 4415. Start frantic diplomacy with Dwarves and Sinda to ask them to keep troops in your area to help out. Ask Dwarves to move troops to Dilgul. Turn 2) Dudannis names an agent. Frumgara creates a 30 emissary and moves to Eoder's navy. Barlin recruits (Heavy cav, if possible.) Western armies move to easterling pop center at 3713. If Eoder hasn't bumped into the Long rider fleet, he sails to Dilgul. Start diplomacy with another nation to get a major town somewhere else--far away from evil agents. Mage still prenticing, trying to learn locate artifact. Raise your tax rate to 50 %, if possible. Turn 3) New agent names an agent, moves to another pop center to start guarding. Dudannis guards and joins western armies, now at Shrel Kain. Barlin recruits, guards. New emissary names an emissary, moves to Lonely Mountain to establish camp. Mage prenticing and researching. Other economy stuff. Eoder retakes Dilgul, or destroys it, depending on how much help the Long Rider has. Turn 4) New emissary names an emissary, moves to 4212 to set up camp in forest. Emissary ignores encounter at Lonely Mountain, moves off towards Fangorn to set up more camps down there. Barlin transfers troops to Gaerandil (the commander of the newly arrived army, and joins army. Odagavia remains in capital to raise taxes and keep house. Army either waits on Shrel Kain for the onslaught or moves south to counter attack, retake Dilgul if necessary. Turn 5 +) By now you can probably start manipulating the market. Watch the prices carefully. With the 20 % bonus on each side of the exchange, it's possible to buy something and sell it in the same turn and make money on the deal. Keep naming agents and emissaries. If it's spring, send the emissaries up to the plains above the Sea of Rhun. Otherwise, head them south and west toward Fangorn and Arthedain/Cardolan, where the climate is better. Have the mage with locate artifact look for some 15-point mage artifacts or maybe some 1500-point combat artifacts. The Noldo and Sinda have already gotten the really nice stuff by this time, but there's still lots out there, and a good combat artifact on one of your commanders could make a "easy" challenge from an overconfident evil blow up in his or her face. Any comments? By the way, is anyone else out there getting as disillusioned as I am about the willingness of players to work for the team first and their victory conditions second? This is my second game, and the flagship positions such as the Noldo have been downright reluctant to do much to help out the weaker positions. In game 119 the Noldo and Arthedain just set up Cardolan for a fall. They asked her to send troops to help them, promising to protect her against the Dunlendings. They have withheld that help, and we're beginning to wonder if they just paid the Duns to attack Cardolan. At this point, it'd give me more pleasure to attack arthedain and the noldo than to hit the Dark Servants. Given these nations' exploits, is such action morally defensible? If so, what's the best way for a weak character nation to attack a superpower like the Noldo when you can't use your only asset--troops? (I've already made my decision, I think, but it might spark a good discussion.) Last Word I don't have anything earth-shattering to relate this issue. In fact, the only thing I'd like to say is: submissions! We still need submissions, and lots of them. Brian and I would pay you, but heck, no one pays us either. So what's the reward, you ask? How about the esteem and fawning adulation of your fellow gamers? Recognition of your wit and savvy being god-like in proportions? Play so impressive that Bill asks you to join the GSI design team? I'd like to say these are possibilities, but it's hard enough to get your fellow gamers to be polite, much less earn their esteem; and GSI doesn't seem to have any openings.... So I can't really say why you should go to all the trouble of writing something up for the Mouth. I don't know why I bother to edit it; just seems to grow on you, like a fungus or a neurotic obsession. But if whimsy should strike and your keyboard beckon, think of your desperate editors sitting here in the dark in front of their computers, checking their mail in the hope that something has arrived for the Mouth (then zipping back to 'Betrayal at Krondor' at the first opportunity, because those damn Night Hawks are realling putting my characters through the ringer). An especial note: next issue goes out on April Fool's. That lends itself to some interesting possibilities. We already have some appropriate submissions for this issue, but the more the merrier, most definitely! I have a special fondness for 'Dumb Things I/My Allies/My Enemies Did' tales, so if any of you have some really brain-dead moves to relate, we'd love to hear about them. That's all. Until Adunaphel begs for mercy in game 97, Tom